FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 

MOSES  ASHLEY  CURTIS 

1808-1872 


PRESENTED  TO 

THE  UBRARY  OF  THE 

JNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH  CAROUNA 

BY  HIS  GRANDCHILDREN 

CB 

C979W 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 

00032195259 


This  book  must  i 
be  taken  from  t 
Library  building. 


SKiEorcia: 


OF    THE 


BOTANICAL  WORK 


OF    THE 


e^  S*  ^ntikf 


A.  M.,  D.  D.,  F.  A,  A.  S. 


BY 


TT3:01sa:J^&    IF..   S^CDOJD, 


'K  .  a .  €  v^vt:^ 


sicEa?oi3: 


OF    THE 


BOTANICAL  WORK 


OF    THE 


tv.  ^o^t$  Jt.  CJuilb, 


A.  M.,  D.  D.,  F.  A.  A.  S, 


BY 


RALEIGH  : 

EDWARDS,    BROUGHTON    &    CO.,     POWER    PRINTERS    AND  BINDERS. 

1885. 


[Extract  from  Journal  of  Elisha  Mitchell  Scientific  Society.] 

OF    THE 

BOTANICAL  WORK  OF  THE  Rev.  MOSES  ASHLEY 

CURTIS,  D.  D. 


Read  before  the  Mitchell  Society  at   the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  May  22D,   1885. 


B^r  THZOnyC^A-S    IF-   ^WOOID. 


In  the  early  days  of  this  century  botany  was  the  science  of  great 
expectations  in  America.  The  florid  narratives  of  the  old  chroni- 
clers were  being  displaced  by  a  generation  of  scientific  men,  whose 
zeal  and  earnestness  fitted  them  for  the  vast  work  of  the  exploration 
and  study  of  the  flora  of  a  new  continent. 

From  the  very  beginning  in  this  country,  the  science  of  botany 
was  an  aristocracy  of  learning,  except  in  the  matter  of  lineal  trans- 
mission, and  even  in  this  direction  we  have  two  illustrious  examples 
in  the  case  of  the   Bartrams  and  Michaux.     The  pioneer  teachers 
were  admitted  authority  in  their  broad   domain,  and   received  the 
encouragement  and  patronage  of  the  mother  country  in  our  colonial 
state,  and  the  sympathy  and  respectful  admiration  of  the  people 
when  we  became  federated  States.     This  was  a  very  natural  state 
of  things,  for  although  the  science  of  botany  was  so  well  cultivated 
that  it  became  a  matter  of  national  pride,  still  the  real   botanists 
were  very  few. 
.^         As  we  look  through  the  superb  volumes  which  remain  the  perma^ 
;^     nentmonumentsof  the  work  of  these  men,  we  find  a  striking  repetition 
Q^    of  a  very  few  names  referred  to  as  authority,  but  these  men  were 
^      able,  industrious,  and  with  v^ery  few  exceptions,  men  of  marked  lon- 
r;^    gevity,  having  the  capacity  of  exciting  enthusiasm  among  the  young 
c     men  who  attended  their  instruction.     It  was  not  until  the  century 
Oi    was  nearly  twenty  years  old  that  botanical  works  began  to  multiply 
^    in  such  numbers  as  to  be  of  use  to  the  student;  so  at  the  time  Dr. 


lO  JOURNAL   OF   THE 

Curtis  entered  upon  the  study  of  botany,  the  science  had  already 
enlisted  the  men  who  were  to  give  it  the  permanent  impress  of  their 
rare  ability.  I  propose  now  to  pass  in  review  the  botanical  career 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Curtis,  rather  than  attempt  a  general  biography. 

Moses  Ashley  Curtis  was  born  in  Stockbridge,  Berkshire  county, 
Mass.,  May  11th,  180S.  His  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Gen.  Moses 
Ashley.     He  graduated  at  Williams  College,  September,  1827. 

Mr.  Curtis  came  to  Wilmington  in  October,  1830,  as  a  tutor  in  the 
family  of  Governor  Dudley.  He  devoted  himself  in  all  of  his  leisure 
hours  to  the  study  of  the  flora  of  that  region.  Especially  on  Satur- 
days he  made  excursions  among  the  sand  hills  and  savannahs  near 
Wilmington.  At  that  time  (1831)  Wilmington  was  a  village  of  about 
4,000  inhabitants,  and  the  field  for  botanizing  existed  where  now  are 
busy  streets.  Close  up  to  the  village  reached  the  pine  forests  abound- 
ing with  a  flora  rich  and  novel  to  the  enthusiastic  young  botanist, 
while  the  savannahs,  with  their  strange  and  interesting  Sanacenia 
and  Pixidanthera,  and  Droseras,  and  the  thousands  of  gaudy  heads 
of  Liatris,  and  the  brilliant  yellows  of  Coreopsis  and  Solidago, 
charmed  the  eye  and  filled  his  portfolios. 

A  flora  so  vast  as  that  of  America  was  difficult  for  any  one  man 
to  compass  in  the  course  of  a  lifetime,  and  so  the  earlier  botanists 
had  conceived  the  advantage  of  florulas,  to  De  prepared  each  for 
his  local  section.  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchell  led  off  in  1807  in  this 
work  by  publishing  a  catalogue  of  the  plants  growing  around  his 
country  seat  in  New  York,  and  he  was  followed  by  Maj.  John  le 
Conte  in  a  florula  for  the  island  of  New  York  in  1811,  and  in  1814 
Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow  pubJished  a  model  specimen  of  a  local  flora  en- 
titled Florula  Bostoniensis.  Subsequently  the  science  uf  botany 
was  enriched  by  the  contributions  of  Dr.  J.  A.  Brereton,  for  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. ;  and  in  1830  by  Prof.  C.  W.  Short,  for  Lexington,  Ky. 

It  was  the  result  of  his  botanical  studies  that  Mr.  Curtis  gave  to 
the  public  under  the  title  of  "Enumeration  of  Plants  Qroioing 
Spontaneously  Around  Wilmington,  North  Carolina'^ vi'ith  remarks 
on  some  new  obscure  species."  This  first  appeared  in  the  Boston 
Journal  of  Natural  History,  September  3d,  1834,  (No.  2,  vol.  1,)  the 
first  edition  of  which  was  nearly  all  burnt,  but  it  was  subsequently 
reprinted  "  with  many  additions  and  emendations."  Dr.  Gray  says 
it  was  one  of  the  first  works  of  the  kind  in  this  country  in  which  the 
names  are  accented. 

His  quick  eye  and  assiduous  application  may  be  judged  by  the 
fact  that*  in  little  more  than  two  seasons,  at  intervals  from  other 

*  Enumeration  of  Plants,  &c.,  M.  A.  Curtis,  p.  83.  Reprint  Boston  Journal 
Natural  History,  Vol.  i,  No.  2,  1834. 


ELISIIA    MITCHELL   SCIENTIFIC   SOCIETY.  II 

engagements,  he  made  a  collection  of  over  a  thousand  species  (ex- 
actly 1,031.)  This  was  two  hundred  less  than  were  then  reckoned 
as  belonging  to  the  flora  of  Massachusetts,  and  more  than  half  the 
number  described  in  Elliott's  Botany  of  Sout)  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
and  about  a  fourth  of  the  phenogamous  flora  of  the  United  States, 
as  then  known.  He  then  adds  that  much  ground  still  remains  un- 
examined. Most  of  these  plants  were  found  within  about  two  miles 
radius  of  Wilmington,  and  a  number  of  maritime  species  discovered 
at  Smithville,  and  several  from  Rocky  Point.  Dr.  Darlington,  who 
was  one  of  his  earliest  and  warmest  friends,  speaks  of  Mr.  Curtis  at 
that  date  as  a  careful  observer  and  sagacious  botanist. 

At  the  time  Mr.  Curtis  was  pursuing  his  studies  in  Wilmington, 
there  were  few  professed  botanists  in  the  State.  The  year  before 
Dr.  Curtis  published  his  florula  (1833),*  H.  B.  Croom,  Esq.,  and  Dr. 
H.  Loomis  made  a  pretty  careful  survey  of  Newbern,  and  printed  a 
catalogue  of  the  plants  they  found  growing  in  that  neighborhood. 
Subsequently  (1837)  Mr.  Croom  published  an  enlarged  catalogue. 
Mr.  Croom  was  a  lawyer,  and  a  botanist  of  no  mean  ability,  and 
besides  the  above  contributions,  prepared  a  valuable  monograph  on 
the  Sarracenias  which  appeared  in  the  third  volume  of  the  Annals 
of  the  New  York  Lyceum.  The  memory  of  Mr.  Croom  received  a 
more  distinguished  record  in  the  annals  of  botanic  science  than  any 
of  his  contemporaries  or  successors  in  North  Carolina,  having  had  a 
genus  (Croomia)  named  in  honor  of  his  contributions. 

In  a  recent  contribution  "Ihe  Botanical  Gazette,  (April,  1885,)  Dr. 
A.  W.  Chapman,  author  of  the  Flora  of  the  Southern  States,  says: 

"Fifty  years  ago,  on  one  of  those  calm,  hazy  October  evenings, 
peculiar  to  the  climate  of  Florida,  the  quiet  of  the  pleasant  town  of 
Quincy  was  interrupted  by  the  rapid  approach  of  a  carriage  with 
attendant  outriders,  which,  having  made  part  of  the  circuit  of  the 
public  square,  drew  up  before  my  oflBlce,  and  a  gentleman  of  middle 
age,  spare  habit,  light  hair  and  blue  eyes,  came  forth  and  intro- 
duced himself  as  Mr.  Croom,  of  North  Carolina.  This  was  the  com- 
mencement of  my  brief  intercourse  with  Hardy  B.  Croom,  the  dis- 
coverer of  Torreya;  for  as  is  well  remembered,  a  year  afterwards  he 
was  lost  at  sea,  with  all  of  his  family,  on  the  passage  froi.i  New 
York  to  Charleston.  Of  his  personal  traits,  it  is  needless  here  to  say 
more  than  that  he  belonged  to  that  class  of  wealthy  and  intelligent 
Southern  gentlemen  whose  homes,  renowned  for  their  unostenta- 
tious hospitality,  were  the  abode  of  all  that  is  most  charming  in  the 


*  Dr.  Curtis  gives  the  date  of  his  publication  as  1833,  but  in  the  reprint  I 
have,  it  is  stated  that  the  paper  was  communicated  to  the  Boston  Journal  of 
Natural  History  in  1834. 


12  JOURNAL   OF   THE 

refinements  of  domestic  life:  but  which  now,  by  impoverishment, 
resulting  from  disastrous  civil  conflict,  and  cons-tquent  change  of 
social  customs  and  duties,  and  by  the  invasion  of  lude  manuersand 
looser  ethics,  have  entirely  disappeared.  *  *  *  Mr.  Croom  was 
then  on  one  of  his  annual  journeys  from  Newbern,  N.  C,  the  resi- 
dence of  the  family,  to  his  plan'ation  in  the  adjoining  county  of 
Leon:  bur  previously  to  settling  in  that  county,  he  had  rented  a 
plantation  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Apalachicola  river,  opposite  the 
calcareous  cliiis  at  Aspolaga,  on  the  east  bank,  which  at  that  time 
were  covered  by  a  dense  grove  of  Torreya,  and  it  was  here  probably 
in  1833  that  he  first  saw  it." 

This  glimpse  of  Dr.  Curtis'  contemporary  is  one  of  the  very  few  I 
have  seen,  and  hence  its  insertion  here. 

In  Wilmington  Dr.  James  F.  McRee,  Sr. .  also  cultivated  botany  with 
assiduity,  and  the  two  botanists  worked  together  effectively.  Dr. 
McRee's  country  residence  was  at  Hilton,  the  country  seat  of  Cor- 
nelius Harnett,  near  the  junction  of  the  ]S^orth  East  Cape  Fear  with 
the  main  stream.  It  was  at  this  house  that  Harnett  received  a  visit 
from  Josiah  Quincy,,  and  where  plans  were  laid  for  the  prosecution 
of  active  hostilities  against  Great  Britain.  Here  Dr.  McRee  cultiva- 
ted with  great  care  and  with  rare  success  the  indigenous  trees  and 
shrubs  he  collected  in  the  course  of  his  extensive  j'ourneys  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  calling.  Dr.  McRee  added  34  species  to  Curtis'  cata- 
logue, annotated  by  him,  besides  several  which  were  printed  in  the 
catalogue  proper,  and  all  through  the  writings  of  Dr.  Curtis  may  be 
fuund  appreciative  allusions  to  his  scientific  attainments.  No  proper 
memorial  has  ever  been  made  of  this  pioneer  scientist. 

Before  railroads  brought  their  freights  speedily  to  our  doors,  and 
the  art  of  printing  had  so  multiplied  books,  there  could  be  found 
upon  the  shelves  of  Dr.  McRee's  library  the  most  recent  and  expen- 
sive works  on  the  science  of  medicine  in  which  he  was  a  great  master, 
but  side  by  side  with  them  he  had  a  natural  history  collection  in 
volumes  of  such  rare  value  that  to  day — the  day  of  numerous  and 
valuable  books — it  would  be  considered  exceedingly  choice.  Until 
a  late  day  in  his  life  his  herbarium  was  kept  in  order  by  replacing 
new  specimens,  but  as  his  health  failed  and  the  war  brought  sorrows 
and  cares  to  his  home,  his  herbarium  fell  into  neglect,  and  finding 
no  cultured  hand  to  preserve  its  scientific  treasures,  it  was  aban- 
doned, and  its  crumbling  remains  now  lie  neglected  in  the  dusty 
garret  of  a  former  slave,  and  the  best  of  the  books  doubtless  found 
their  way  through  the  intervention  of  plunderers,  to  Northern  book- 
stalls, if  they  did  not  go  down  off  Cape  Fear  in  the  ill  fated  steamer 
Qen.  Lyons,  with  thousands  of  dollars  belonging  to  others  of  our 
elf'  ens. 


ELISHA    MITCHELL   SCIENTIFIC    SOCIETY.  1 3 

Prof.  Elisha  Mitchell  and  Rev.  Dr.  L.  De  Schweinitz  had  preceded 
Dr.  Curtis  in  the  study  of  North  Carolina  plants,  the  former  to 
abandon  it  for  the  more  congenial  study  of  geology,  the  latter  to 
establish  a  world-wide  reputation. 

Dr.  Cyrus  L.  Hunter,  of  Lincoln  county,  published  a  list  of  such 
plants  as  he  found  in  his  neighborhood,  about  the  year  1834,  a-jd 
pursued  his  studies  with  more  or  less  regularity  and  zeal  since  then. 

This  scanty  review  gives  an  idea  of  what  degree  of  cultivation  the 
pursuit  of  botany  had  reached  in  North  Carolina  when  Mr.  Curtis 
engaged  in  it. 

To  the  south  of  us  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bachman,  a  diligent  naturalist, 
had  made  such  advance  in  the  study  of  botany  as  to  publish  a  cata- 
logue of  the  plants  growing  in  the  vicinity  of  Charleston.  At  the 
same  time,  Mr.  H.  W.  Ravenel  was  also  a  cultivator  of  the  science. 
Of  both  of  these  gentlemen  Mr.  Curtis  speaks  in  his  diary  as  having 
met,  while  on  a  botanical  tour  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  in 
1835,  also  Mr.  Leitner,  of  Georgia. 

The  number  of  botanists  actually  at  work  were  few  in  number, 
but  those  were  bound  together  by  the  closest  ties  of  scientific  and 
friendly  interests.  Much  of  the  knowledge  of  plants  was  communi- 
cated by  means  of  long  and  carefully  prepared  letters,  written  with 
that  engaging  art  which  unfortunately  threatens  to  become  extinct. 

Mr.  Curtis  was  twenty-two  years  old  when  he  came  to  Wilmington 
a  young  teacher.  His  early  associations  had  been  favorable  for  the 
inculcation  of  a  true  scientific  spirit.  He  found  absorbing  pleasure 
in  the  quiet  of  the  fields  and  forests,  and  without  ever  a  thought  of 
becoming  a  scientific  botanist,  he  amassed  a  wealth  of  knowledge, 
and  won  an  exalted  position  among  the  botanists  of  the  world.  No 
doubt  he  looked  forward  to  Saturday  with  eager  expectation,  that 
he  might  exchange  the  constrained  duties  of  the  school  room  for  the 
freedom  of  the  woods,  and  for  pleasant  intercourse  with  the  old  and 
new  floral  friends  he  was  to  meet. 

If  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  scientific  instinct,  Mr.  Curtis  possessed 
it.  He  was  habitually  accurate  in  his  studies,  and  the  results  were 
early  relied  upon  by  his  correspondents.  Coming  into  a  new  field 
of  botanical  study,  it  was  quite  natural  that  he  should  have  directed 
his  attention  to  the  habits  of  the  very  local  Dionoea  muscipula. 
Saturday  after  Saturday  he  would  visit  the  savannahs,  and  lying 
at  length  upon  the  ground,  would  watch  its  peculiarities.  The 
popular  description  which  he  gave  of  it  in  "Enumeration  of  Plants 
around  Wilmington,"  has  been  repeated  for  the  last  fifty  years,  and 


14  JOURNAL   OF   THE 

shows  how  greatly  he  possessed  the  gift  of  accurate  and  entertainiug 
description.     I  quote  the  passage  without  apology: 

"The  leaf,  which  is  the  only  curious  part,  springs  from  the  root, 
spreading  upon,  the  ground  or  at  a  little  elevation  above  it.  It  is 
composed  of  a  petiole  or  stem  with  broad  margins,  like  the  leaf  of 
an  orange  tree,  two  to  four  inches  long,  whii  h  at  the  end  suddenly 
expands  into  a  thick  and  somewhat  rigid  leaf,  tlie  two  sides  of  which 
are  semicircular,  about  two-thirds  of  an  inch  across,  and  fringed 
around  their  edges  with  somewhat  rigid  cilia  or  long  hairs  like  eye 
lashes.  It  is  very  aptly  compared  to  two  upper  eyelids  joined  at 
their  bases.  Each  side  of  the  leaf  is  a  little  concave  on  the  inner 
side,  where  are  placed  three  delicate,  hair-like  organs  in  such  an 
order  that  an  insect  can  hardly  traverse  it  without  interfering  with 
one  of  them,  when  the  two  sides  suddenly  collapse  and  enclose  the 
prey  with  a  force  surpassing  an  insect's  efforts  to  escape.  The  fringe 
or  hairs  of  the  opposite  sides  of  the  leaf  interlace,  like  the  fingers  of 
the  two  hands  clasped  together.  The  sensitiveriess  resides  only  in 
these  hair-like  processes  on  the  inside,  as  the  leaf  may  be  touched 
or  pressed  in  any  other  part  without  sensible  effects. 

"The  little  prisoner  is  not  crushed  and  suddenly  destroyed,  as  is 
sometimes  supposed,  for  I  have  often  liberated  captive  flies  and 
spiders  which  sped  away  as  fast  as  fear  or  joy  could  hasten  them. 
At  other  times  I  have  found  them  enveloped  in  a  fluid  of  a  mucila- 
ginous consistence,  which  seems  to  act  as  a  solvent,  the  insects 
being  more  or  less  consumed  in  it.  This  circumstanoe  has  suggested 
the  possibility  of  their  being  made  subservient  to  the  nourishment 
of  the  plant  through  an  apparatus  of  absorbent  vessels  in  the  leaves. 
But  as  I  have  not  examined  sufficiently  to  pronounce  on  the  univer- 
sality of  this  result,  it  will  require  further  observation  and  experi- 
ment on  the  spot  to  ascertain  its  nature  and  importance.  It  is  not 
to  be  supposed,  however,  that  such  food  is  necessary  to  the  exist- 
ence of  the  plant,  but  like  compost,  may  increase  its  growth  and 
vigor. 

"  But  however  obscure  and  uncertain  may  be  the  final  purpose  of 
such  a  singular  organization,  if  it  were  a  problem  to  construct  a 
plant  with  reference  to  entrapping  insects,  I  cannot  conceive  of  a 
form  and  organization  better  adapted  to  secure  that  end  than  are 
found  in  the  Dioncea  muscipula.  1  therefore  deem  it  no  credulous 
inference  that  its  leaves  are  constructed  for  that  specific  object, 
whether  insects  subserve  the  purpose  of  nourishment  to  the  plant 
or  not.  It  is  no  objection  to  this  view  that  they  are  subject  to  blind 
accident,  and  sometimes  close  upon  straws  as  well  as  insects.  It 
would  be  a  curious  vegetable  indeed,  that  had  a  faculty  of  dis- 
tinguishing bodies,  and  recoiled  at  the  touch  of  one,  while  it  quietly 
submitted  to  violence  from  another.  Such  capricious  sensitiveness 
is  not  a  property  of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 

"The  spiders  net  is  spread  to  ensnare  flies,  yet  it  catches  whatever 
falls  upon  it;  and  the  ant  lion  is  roused  from  his  hiding  place  by  the 
fall  of  a  pebble;  so  much  are  insects,  also,  subject  to  the  blindness 
of  accident.  Therefore  the  web  of  the  one  and  the  pitfall  of  the 
other  are  not  designed  to  catch  insects!  Nor  is  it  in  point  to  refer 
to  other  plants  of  entirely  different  structure  and  habit  which  some- 
times entangle   and   imprison   insects.     As   well    might   we   reason 


ELISHA    MITCHELL   SCIENTIFIC   SOCIETY.  1 5 

against  a  spider's  web  because  a  fly  is  drowned  in  a  honey  pot,  or 
against  a  steel  trap,  because  some  poor  animal  has  lost  its  life  in  a 
cider  barrel." 

"In  his  note  upon  the  structure  of  Diona^a,  or  Venus  Fly-Trap,  a 
plant  found  only  in  the  district  around  Wilmington,"  says  Dr.  Asa 
Gray,  "Dr.  Curtis  corrected  the  account  of  the  mode  of  its  wonderful 
action  that  had  prevailed  since  the  time  of  Linnaeus,  and  confirmed 
the  statement  and  inferences  of  the  first  scientific  describer,  EUis, 
namely,  that  his  plant  not  only  captures  insects,  but  consumes  them, 
enveloping  them  in  a  mucilaginous  fluid  which  appears  to  act  as  a 
solvent." 

During  the  preparation  of  his  first  little  work  he  returned  to 
Boston  and  commenced  his  studies  for  the  ministry,  1833-34,  with 
the  Rev.  William  Croswell,  While  there  he  commenced  a  corres- 
pondence with  Dr.  Torrey,  who  aided  him  in  determining  species. 
His  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Gray  commenced  later,  but  became  much 
more  intimate. 

While  on  his  way  to  Boston,  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Dr. 
Darlington,  of  Westchester,  Pa.,  and  he  afterwards  became  a  valued 
friend  and  a  helper  so  long  as  he  needed  one. 

He  married  Miss  Mary  DeRosset,  daughter  of  the  elder  Dr.  A.  J. 
DeRosset,  of  Wilmington   December  3d,  1834. 

He  returned  to  the  South  in  the  latter  part  of  1834,  continued  his 
studies  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  R.  B.  Drane,  and  was  ordained  to  the 
ministry  of  the  Episcopal  church  by  Bishop  Moore,  of  Virginia,  in 
1835.  He  immediately  entered  upon  mission  work  in  Western  North 
Carolina  from  Charlotte  to  the  mountain  country  as  far  as  Mor- 
ganton,  with  his  residence  in  Lincolnton.  It  was  while  pursuing 
his  work  as  a  missionary  that  he  took  advantage  of  his  journeying 
in  the  solitary  woods  to  pursue  his  botanical  researches.  Most  of 
his  traveling  was  done  in  a  "  sulky,"  which  was  so  arranged  that  his 
portfolio  was  under  the  cushion.  As  he  came  across  specimens  by 
the  way,  he  would  collect  them  and  place  them  in  his  portfolio,  and 
so  by  the  end  of  his  journey  he  had  secured  a  number  of  ready 
pressed  plants  for  future  study,  or  for  mounting  permanently  in  his 
herbarium.  He  left  the  mountain  section  at  the  end  of  1836,  and 
was  engaged  as  a  teacher  in  the  Episcopal  school  in  Raleigh  from 
the  beginning  of  1837  to  May  1839. 

The  summer  of  1839  he  spent  in  the  mountain  country  for  health 
chiefly,  though  always  carrying  on  his  botanical  explorations,  and 
went  through  that  region  to  the  extreme  west  and  southwest  of  the 
State, 


1 6  JOURNAL   OF   THE 

Extending  his  botanical  observations  to  the  western  borders  of  his 
adopted  State,  Dr.  Curtis  was  among  the  first  to  retrace  the  steps 
and  rediscover  the  plants  found  and  published  by  the  Elder  Michaiix, 
in  the  higher  Alleghany  mountains."  (Sillitnan's  Jour.,  January  to 
June,  1873,  p.  392.)  From  the  very  beginning  of  these  journeys  the 
search  for  a  plant  found  in  the  Elder  Michaux's  herbarium  was 
begun  and  pursued  with  hopeful  expectation  for  years.  Michaux 
had  been  proven  so  truthful  and  accurate  in  his  descriptions,  that 
he  had  impressed  his  successors  with  faith  in  him.  This  veteran 
botanist  had  collected  a  remarkable  plant,  as  Dr.  Gray  says,  with 
the  habit  of  Pyrola  and  the  foliage  of  Galax,  and  the  only  specimen 
extant  was  in  the  Michauxian  herbarium,  among  the  Planta  incog- 
nita, and  this  only  in  fruit.  This  plant,  since  discovered  in  flower 
by  Mr.  Hyamsin  McDowell,  had  already  been  named  by  Dr.  Gray,  in 
honor  of  Prof.  Short,  of  Kentucky,  and  now  known  as  Shortia 
galicifolia.  Over  and  over  again  did  Dr.  Curtis  traverse  the  line 
of  Michaux's  travel  for  Shortia,  but  without  success. 

Prof.  Gray*  says  in  a  paper  in  which  he  sketched  the  botanical 
tours  of  the  botanists  who  had  visited  the  mountains  of  North  Car- 
olina in  1841:  "No  living  botanist  is  so  well  acquainted  with  the 
vegetation  of  the  Southern  Alleghany  Mountains,  or  has  explored 
those  of  North  Carolina  so  extensively  as  the  Rev.  Mr.  M.  A.  Curtis, 
who,  when  resident  for  a  short  time  in  their  vicinity,  visited,  as  op- 
portunity occurred,  Table  Mountain,  Grandfather,  the  Yellow  Moun- 
tain, the  Roan,  the  Black  Mountain,  &c.,  and  subsequently, 
(although  prevented  by  infirm  health  from  making  large  collections) 
extended  his  researches  through  the  counties  of  Haywood,  Macon, 
and  Cherokee,  which  form  the  narrow  southwestern  extremity  of 
North  Carolina.  To  him  we  are  indebted  for  local  information, 
which  greatly  facilitated  our  recent  journey,  and,  indeed,  for  a  com- 
plete itinerarium  of  the  region  south  of  Ashe  county." 

Early  in  1840  he  was  called  to  mission  work  about  Washington, 
in  Beaufort  county,  remaining  there  a  year,  and  early  in  1841  he 
removed  to  Hillsborough,  where  he  remained  six  years.  In  April, 
1847,  he  removed  to  Society  Hill,  in  South  Carolina,  which  accounts 
for  the  fact  that  he  is  spoken  of  as  a  resident  there,  his  residence  at 
that  place  having  been  nine  years.  From  Society  Hill  Dr.  Curtis 
removed  to  Hillsborough  in  1856,  and  resided  there  until  his  death 
in  1872. 


*Notes  on  a  Botanical  Excursion  to   the  Mountains  of   North  Carolina,  &c. 
Am.  Journal  Sc,  Oct.,  Dec,  1841,  p.  12. 


ELISHA    MITCHELL   SCIENTIFIC   SOCIETY.  1 7 

As  it  is  the  design  of  this  paper  to  speak  more  particularly  of  Dr. 
Curtis  as  a  botanist,  it  will  be  observed  by  many  of  his  old  friends 
who  knew  of  his  labors  in  his  Divine  calling— how  self-sacrificing 
they  were,  how  full  of  human  sympathy,  how  devoid  of  self-seeking  - 
that  I  must  leave  this  part  of  his  life  to  those  abler  to  record  the 
victories  he  won  for  the  Cross. 

The  first  botanical  essay  contributed  by  Dr.  Curtis  was  more  than 
a  mere  catalogue,  and  it  attracted  the  favorable  notice  of  his  teach- 
ers and  correspondents.  It  was  so  thorough  that  after  a  lapse  of 
half  a  century  only  about  fifty  species  have  been  added  to  his  list. 
One  of  them  has  a  peculiar  interest  as  illustrating  the  laudable 
jealousy  with  which  he  regarded  his  earlier  achievements. 

In  the  summer  of  1867,  Mr.  Wm.  M.  Canby,  of  Wilmington,  Del., 
an  esteemed  friend  of  Dr.  Curtis,  a  botanist  second  to  none  in  the 
Union  for  diagnostic  learning,  came  to  Wilmington  to  add  to  his 
collection,  and  look  over  the  old  botanizing  territory  after  the  smoke 
of  war  had  cleared  up.     On  the  memorable  occasion  of  this  narra- 
tive he  had  been  to  Hilton  Ferry,  close  by  the  estate  of  Dr.  James 
F.  McRee,  in  search  of  the  very  local  Alligator  Bonnets,  (Nuphar 
Sagitt^efohum.)     He  had  completed  his  collection,  and  was  carefully 
spreading  them  on  ihe  logs  to  dry.     His  face  was  turned  towards 
the  bank  of  the  river,  which  at  this  point  ib  an  abrupt  bank  of  grey 
marl,  overhung  by  thick  festoons  of  beautiful  shrubbery.     Clinging 
to  this  wall,  under  the  drippings  of  the  water  through  the  marl  as 
the  tide  recedes,  he  espied  beautiful  fronds  of  the  true  Maiden's  Hair 
Fern,  (AdiantumCapillus- Veneris.)  This  beautiful  fern  had  not  before 
been  detected  in  this  part  of  the  State,  or  indeed  north  of  Alabama. 
The  discovery  was  a  great  pleasure  and  surprise  to  Mr.  Canby,  for 
here  on  the  territory  of  Curtis  he  had  been  able  to  add  such  a  beau- 
tiful plant  to  his  list.     Specimens  were  soon  borne  by  the  mail  to 
Dr.  Curtis,  then  living  in  Hillsborough,  and  the  earliest  mail  brought 
me  a  letter  of  specific  instructions  where  to  go  and  what  to  look  for, 
and  I  was  able  to  verify  Mr.  Canby's  discovery.     It  was  not  long 
before  Dr.  Curtis  had  important  business  to  attend  to  in  Wilmington, 
and  a  visit  to  the  newly  discovered  Adiantum  station  was  not  the 
least  important. 

Dr.  Curtis'  method  as  a  student  was  that  of  broad-minded  scien- 
tist. Just  to  name  a  flower  and  preserve  it  carefully  in  his  herba- 
rium was  to  him  but  the  beginning  of  his  work.  His  earliest  records 
show  that  he  studied  the  relation  of  plant-life  to  geologic  and  cli- 
matic surroundings.  The  study  of  botanical  geography  was  begun 
and   continued    during   his   whole   career   as  a    botanist,    extend- 


I8  JOURNAL   OF  THE 

ing  over  38  years.  Tbe  account  he  has  given  us  in  his  "  WooDY 
PiiANTS,"  is  to-day  the  best  guide  to  the  natural  climatological 
divisions  of  the  State  which  has  ever  been  giv^en.  His  studies  were 
also  directed  to  the  numerous  economic  questions  which  met  him  in 
his  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  treasures  of  the  field  and  forest. 
It  was  this  feature  of  his  labors  alone  which  brought  him  an  audi- 
ence in  his  adopted  State,  and  with  this  object  in  view  he  brought 
together  the  material  which  he  published  as  a  part  of  the  Geological 
and  Natural  History  Survey,  known  best  by  the  condensed  title 
given  to  it  by  Prof.  Emmons,  as  the  "  Woody  Plants.""  This  volume 
of  124  pages  was  printed  by  the  State  in  1860,  and  at  once  became  a 
popular  manual  for  the  farmer  and  the  woodsman,  and  for  amateur 
botanists,  a  key  to  the  more  conspicuous  trees  and  shrubs  useful  for 
their  fruit  or  timber,  or  as  ornaments.  The  key  devised  to  enable 
one  of  no  botanical  knowledge  to  determine  a  given  plant  or  shrub  was 
founded  upon  the  character  of  the  fruit,  and  distinguished  by  their 
common  name.  The  preface  of  this  little  work  is  an  introduction 
to  the  geographical  distribution  of  plants  in  the  State,  and  shows 
what  a  thorough  acquaintance  he  had  with  the  vast  subject.  This 
short  essay  attracted  the  attention  of  the  whole  country  to  the 
unique  position  which  our  State  holds  in  rei'pect  to  climate,  soil  and 
forest  products.  Tiiat  North  Carolina  nas  a  difference  of  elevation 
between  the  east  and  west  which  gives  a  difference  of  climate  equal 
to  10  or  12  degrees  of  latitude,  was  first  shown  by  Dr.  Curtis  in  his 
comparison  of  the  local  flora  in  his  Woody  Plants.  He  made  him- 
self acquainted  at  the  very  outset  of  his  work  as  i  botanist  with 
the  labors  of  the  earlier  explorers  of  the  State.  In  his  "  Plants 
around  Wilmington,"  w^find  him  quoting  from  BrickelTs  Natural 
History  of  North  Carolina,  and  Catesby's  Natural  History  of  Caro 
lina.  The  sketch  he  gives  of  the  progress  of  botanical  discoveries 
in  the  State  in  his  Woody  Plants  is  full  of  interest,  and  shows  how 
deeply  he  caught  the  inspiration  from  their  example  of  self-denial  in 
the  cause  of  science. 

In  "Woody  Plants"  is  displayed,  as  in  the  succeeding  works 
written  by  him,  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  common  names  of 
plants — a  subject  full  of  confusion — misleading  young  botanists  and 
bewildering  the  old  ones.  As  though  the  change  from  one  system 
to  another  were  not  enough,  then  to  add  to  this  the  formidable  con- 
fusion of  synonyms  (with  no  guide  to  its  mysteries  like  Watson's,) 
and  then  the  local  names  of  plants,  it  is  confusion  interminable.  In 
this  study,  though,  Dr.  Curtis  had  a  cultivated  philological  turn. 


ELISHA    MITCHELL   SCIENTIFIC   SOCIETY.  I9 

Scarcely  a  common  name  escaped  him,  as  various  as  they  were  in 
all  the  numerous  localities. 

Since  Woody  Plants  was  issued,  it  has  been  made  the  basis  of 
several  publications,  and  we  fear  without  proper  authorization.  The 
report  on  Forestry  by  Hough,  prepared  for  the  general  govern- 
ment, has  quoted  voluminously  from  Curtis,  and  since  then  a  volume 
bearing  on  its  covers  the  modest  title  of  Woods  and  Timbers  of 
North  Carolina  only  reveals  its  true  character  after  we  pass  the 
new  title  page.  I  am  sure,  though,  that  the  author  would  have  been 
delighted  when  he  was  preparing  his  little  volume  for  the  press  with 
so  much  labor  and  such  rare  knowledge  as  a  free  offering  to  his 
adopted  State,  if  he  could  have  known  that  it  would  have  been  so 
largely  read  and  appreciated  by  those  for  whom  he  originally  in- 
tended it. 

As  great  a  task  as  the  collection  of  the  Phsenogamous  Plants  was. 
Dr.  Curtis  had  fully  completed  it  before  his  Woody  Plants  was  pub- 
lished. Of  course,  exception  is  here  made  to  a.  small  number  of 
plants  discovered  since  chiefly  by  Mr,  W.  M.  Canby,  Mr.  Hyams, 
Mr.  McCarthy,  Maj.  Young,  and  myself.  Early  in  his  career  he 
undertook  the  study  of  the  fungi.  This  very  difficult  branch  of 
botany  at  that  time  had  few  votaries,  and  the  unexplored  field  was 
immense.  There  was  no  book  that  could  be  considered  a  text-book 
on  the  subject  published  in  America.  The  Rev.  L.  D.  de  Schweinitz 
had  made  two  contributions  to  the  fungi  of  America,  one  in  1820, 
published  in  Leipsic,  and  entitled  ''Fungi  CaroUncB  Super  tor  is,''' 
the  other  a  ''Synopsis  Fangorum  in  America  Boreali  media  de- 
gentium,''''  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society  in  1831.  With  these  guides  to  local  species,  our 
enthusiastic  student  addressed  himself  to  his  labor  of  love. 

In  1846  he  commenced  a  correspondence  with  Mr.  H.  W.  Ravenel, 
of  South  Carolina,  a  correspondence  which  was  continued  until  Dr. 
Curtis'  death  in  1872.  Mr.  Ravenel  was  then,  as  he  is  now,  a  de- 
voted student  of  the  fungi,  having  made  large  collections.  His 
position  now  among  American  botanists  is  that  of  very  high  au- 
thority on  the  subject. 

About  two  years  after  Dr.  Curtis  began  his  correspondence  with 
Mr.  Ravenel,  he  also  commenced  a  correspondence  with  the  Rev. 
M.  J.  Berkley,  of  England.  Mr.  Berkley  became  greatly  attached 
to  Dr.  Curtis  by  reason  of  the  ardor  and  accuracy  with  which  he 
pursued  the  investigation  of  new  species.     De  Schweinitz  had  him- 


20  T0Ur5;al  of  the 

self  discovered  over  1200  species,  chiefly  in  this  State,  but  the  field 
was  still  far  from  being  exhausted.  Correspondence  between  these 
gentlemen  continued  for  a  number  of  years,  and  a  scientific  copart- 
nership was  formed  which  resulted  in  the  addition  of  nearly  five 
hundred  new  sj  ecies  to  the  list  up  to  the  year  1867,  and  since  Dr. 
Curtis' death  a  number  of  new  species  appeared  in  "Grevillia" 
under  the  joint  authorship  of  Berkley  and  Ctwtis. 

Correspondence  between  botanists  at  that  time  was  very  active, 
and  the  letters  which  were  interchanged  comprised  the  principj3|(_ 
stock  of  knowledge  then  available.  The  letters  which  have  been 
preserved  are  very  instructive,  even  at  this  date.  Not  only  do  we 
find  in  them  the  growth  of  botanical  science,  but  such  notes  about 
the  state  of  civilization  as  to  roads,  forests,  dwellings,  farms,  taverns, 
and  the  social  condition  of  the  people,  which  make  them  treasure 
houses  for  the  general  historian.  The  correspondence  between  John 
Bartram,  and  Collinson,  Humphrey  Marshall,  Ellis,  BenJ,  Franklin, 
and  other  notables  of  the  day,  with  an  editorial  by  Dr.  Darlington, 
is  one  of  the  few  volumes  which  have  preserved  letters  in  a  printed 
form,  and  few  volumes  give  a  more  satisfactory  insight  into  the 
state  of  our  social  affairs  than  this  one.  It  is  not  a  complete  pano- 
rama, but  the  passing  allusions  to  what  these  itinerant  botanists 
saw,  gives  a  keen  relish  to  their  work.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
such  a  small  part  of  this  correspondence  is  preserved,  for  like  that 
of  McRee  and  Curtis,  much  of  it  is  long  since  inaccessible. 

^71  passant  it  is  interesting  to  observe  how  little  notice  these 
pioneers  of  science  took  of  the  current  of  political  affairs.  For 
although  the  travels  of  VVm.  Bartram  through  the  Carolinas  and 
Georgia  were  made  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  our  zealous 
botanist  has  no  ear  for  the  war-like  preparations  which  must  have 
resounded  in  the  air,  but  was  totally  absorbed  in  what  Nature  had 
so  lavishly  spread  out  before  him.  For  him  no  triumph  was  equal 
to  the  discovery  of  a  new  plant,  the  solution  of  the  mysteries  of  the 
habits  of  birds  and  insects.  Like  all  of  his  sect,  the  Friends,  Bart- 
ram had  the  strictest  bias  against  the  commotion  of  war,  and  this, 
added  to  love  of  the  knowledge  of  nature,  may  account  for  his 
silence. 

But  to  return  from  this  digression.  Dr.  Curtis  found  this  new 
field  of  botany  greatly  to  his  liking.  His  habit  of  study  was  pains- 
taking and  accurate,  and  the  microscopic  work  necessary  for  the 
determination  of  species  became  in  his  hands  a  triumph  of  skill.  It 
was  in  this  steady  sedentary  pursuit  that  Dr.  Curtis  injured  his 
health.     For  hours  at  a  time,  day  by  day,  he  pored  over  the  micro- 


ELISHA    MITCHELL   SCIENTIFIC   SOCIETY.  21 

metry  of  fungus  spores.  Few  were  the  botanists  with  whom  he 
could  compare  specimens  and  interchange  notes.  He  pursued  this 
specialty  without  the  stimulus  offered  now  by  special  societies,  and 
for  the  greater  part  of  his  career  absolutely  without  an  audience. 
It  is  certain,  therefore,  that  nothing  but  the  intensest  love  of  his 
studies  led  him  up  to  the  highest  station  occupied  by  any  American 
botanist.  I  have  heard  him  say,  "  Nothing  surprised  me  more  than 
to  be  called  a  botanist  at  first.  Although  I  had  accomplished  the 
survey  of  the  phenogamous  plants  of  the  State,  I  still  felt  that  I  was 
comparatively  not  a  botanist."  But  this  modesty  was  habitual  with 
him.  It  was  a  modesty,  however,  not  begotten  of  uncertainty,  for 
in  all  his  work  Dr.  Curtis  was  accurate.  If  he  spoke  at  all  it  was 
always  with  the  authority  of  the  master. 

Shortly  after  Dr.  Hawks'  Hibtory  of  North  Carolina  appeared,  Dr. 
Curtis  published  in  the  University  Magazine,  (1860),  "J.  Commen- 
tary on  the  Natural  History  of  Dr.  Hawks'  History  of  North  Caro- 
lina.'''' This  paper  demonstrated  the  thorough  knowledge  Dr.  Curtis 
had  obtained  of  the  botany  of  the  old  travelers  and  explorers.  Dr. 
Hawks  had  drawn  with  too  free  a  hand  the  wonders  of  our  truly 
wonderful  forests  and  fields,  and  had  been  led  away  quite  uncon- 
sciously by  the  florid  accounts  of  Hariot,  and  Amadas  &  Barlowe, 
and  Lawson.  The  analysis  which  Dr.  Curtis  made  left  but  little  of 
the  fabulous  statement  of  the  early  chroniclers  disproved,  and 
proved  Dr.  Hawks  to  have  been  but  slightly  informed  about  natural 
history.  This  paper  is  an  almost  complete  key  to  Lawson's  History, 
as  far  as  the  natural  history  items  are  concerned,  although  it  is  not 
a  continuous  narrative.  The  circulation  which  the  University  Mag- 
az  ne  had  at  the  time  was  not  large  enough  to  overtake  the  natural 
history  errors  of  Hawks'  History,  and  many  of  them  are  extant  to 
this  day  as  traditions  among  the  common  people. 

It  was  during  the  war  1861—1865,  that  Dr.  Curtis  conceived  the 
idea  of  preparing  a  work  on  the  Edible  Fungi.  The  events  which 
led  up  to  this  scientific  essay,  it  may  be  well  to  narrate.  Although 
he  was  well  acquainted  botanically  with  fungi,  he  was  not  an  avowed 
mycophagist  until  somewhere  about  1855.  Before  this  he  expressed 
himself  to  Mr.  Berkeley  as  being  afraid  of  them,  as  he  had  grown 
up  with  the  common  prejudices  against  them  entertained  by  most 
people  in  this  country.  Having  occasionally  read  of  fearful  acci- 
dents from  their  use,  and  there  being  abundance  of  other  and 
wholesome  food  obtainable,  he  felt  no  inclination  to  run  any  risks 
in  needlessly  enlarging  his  bill  of  fare,  and  so  he  passed  middle  life 
without  having  once  even  tasted  a  mushroom.     But  as  his  confidence 


22  JOURNAL   OF   THE 

increased,  under  the  guidance  and  assistance  of  Mr.  Berkeley,  a 
confidence  to  discriminate  species  grew  up  with  it.  and  a  curiosity 
to  test  the  qualities  of  these  much-lauded  articles  got  the  better  of 
timidity,  and  at  the  time  he  wrote  (1869)  he  could  safely  say  that 
he  had  eaten  a  greater  variety  of  mushrooms  than  any  one  on  the 
American  continent.  He  introduced  several  species  before  untried 
and  unknown.  From  the  beginning  of  his  experiments  he  exercised 
great  caution  even  with  the  species  long  recognized  as  safe  and 
wholesome.  In  every  case  he  began  only  with  a  single  mouthful, 
]S^o  ill  effect  following,  he  made  a  second  essay  upon  two  or  three 
mouthfuls,  and  so  on  gradually  until  he  made  a  full  meal  of  them. 

Fortunately  he  did  not  blunder  upon  any  kind  that  was  mischiev- 
ous, although  he  ate  freely  of  forty  species.  This,  he  says,  was  due 
to  the  fact.'tiiat  his  general  acquaintance  with  species  which  have 
been  long  used  in  Europe,  and  his  experiments  were  only  with 
species  bearing  some  affinity  or  analogy  to  them. 

Mycophagy  was  an  art  and  a  science  with  Dr.  Curtis,  and  in  a 
letter  to  Mr,  Berkeley  he  thus  describes  some  of  his  experiences: 

"Of  the  Merisma  group  of  Polypores,  having  already  tried  P.  frondosus, 
confluens,  and  sulphureus,  I  ventured,  after  some  hesitation,  ^nd  with  more 
than  usual  caution,  to  test  the  virtues  of  the  new  American  species,  (P.  Berkelei, 
Fr.,)  notwithstanding  the  intense  pungency  of  the  raw  material,  which  bites  as 
fiercely  as  Lactarius  piperatus.  When  young,  and  before  the  pores  are  visible, 
the  substance  is  quite  crisp  and  brittle,  and  in  this  State  I  have  eaten  it  with 
impunity  and  with  satisfaction,  its  pungency  being  all  dissipated  by  stewing. 
I  do  not,  however,  deem  it  comparable  with  P.  confluens,  which  is  rather  a 
favorite  with  me,  as  it  is  with  some  others  to  whom  I  have  introduced  it.  P. 
sulphureus  is  just  tolerable;  safe,  but  not  to  be  coveted  when  one  can  get  better, 

"  When  I  say  safe,  I  mean  not  poisonous.  I  cannot  recommend  it  as  a  diet 
for  weak  stomachs,  which  should  be  said  of  some  other  fungi  of  similar  texture, 
I  am  here  reminded  of  an  experience  I  had  three  or  four  years  ago  with  this 
species,  which  would  have  greatly  alarmed  me  had  it  happened  at  an  early  date 
in  my  experiments,  and  which  would  probably  have  deterred  any  one  unused  to 
this  kind  of  diet  from  ever  indulging  in  it  again.  I  had  a  sumptuous  dish  of  it 
on  my  supper  table,  of  which  most  of  my  family,  as  well  as  a  guest  staying  with 
us,  partook  very  freely.  During  the  night  I  became  very  sick,  and  was  not 
relieved  until  relieved  of  my  supper.  xMy  first  thought  on  the  accession  of  the 
illness  was  of  Polyporus  sulphureus  ;  but  as  I  remembered  that  inflammation 
was  one  of  the  symptoms  of  fungus  poisoning,  and  I  could  detect  no  indications 
of  this  in  my  case,  I  soon  dismissed  the  rising  fear,  did  not  send  for  the  doctor, 
nor  take  any  remedy.  Others  who  had  partaken  of  the  fungus  more  freely  than 
myself,  were  not  at  all  affected  ;  and  I  presume  my  sickness  was  no  more  in- 
duced by  the   Polyporus  than  by  the  bread  and  butter  I   had  eaten.     And  yet 


ELISHA    MITCHELL   SCIENTIFIC   SOCIETY.  23 

had  I  alone  partaken  of  the  dish,  or  had  one  or  two  others  been  affected  in  like 
manner,  doubtless  the  night  attack  would  have  been  very  confidently  attributed 
by  some  to  the  mushroom  ;  or  had  this  been  my  first  trial  of  that  article,  possibly 
I  might  ever  after  have  regarded  it  with  suspicion.  I  learned  a  few  days  after- 
wards, from  one  of  our  physicians,  that  this  kind  of  sickness  was  then  somewhat 
prevalent  in  the  community,  and  could  be  attributed  to  no  known  cause.  For 
the  credit  of  this  species,  therefore,  we  were  fortunately  able  to  distinguish  the 
post  hoc  from  the  propter  hoc. 

There  are  families  in  America  that  for  generations  have  freely  and  annually 
eaten  mushrooms,  preserving  a  habit  brought  from  Europe  by  their  ancestors. 
In  no  case  have  I  heard  of  an  accident  among  them.  I  have  known  no  instance 
of  mushroom-poisoning  in  this  country,  except  where  the  victim  rashly  ventured 
upon  the  experiment  without  knowing  one  species  from  another.  Among  the 
families  above  mentioned,  I  have  not  met  with  any  whose  knowledge  of  mush- 
rooms extended  beyond  the  common  species  (A.  campestris)  called  Pink  Gill 
in  this  country.  Several  such  families  hve  near  me,  but  not  one  of  them  was 
aware,  until  I  informed  them,  that  there  are  other  edible  kinds.  Everything 
but  the  Pink  Gill,  which  had  the  form  of  a  mushroom,  was  to  them  a  toadstool, 
and  poisonous.  When  I  first  sent  my  son  with  a  fine  basket  of  imperials  (A. 
csesareus)  to  an  intelligent  physician,  who  was  extravagantly  fond  of  the  common 
mushroom,  the  lad  was  greeted  with  the  indignant  exclamation,  "Boy,  I 
wouldn't  eat  one  of  those  things  to  save  your  father's  head  !"  When  told  they 
were  eaten  at  my  table,  he  accepted  them,  ate  them,  and  has  eaten  many  a  one 
since  with  all  safety  and  with  no  little  relish.  Since  that  time  our  mycopha- 
gists  eat  whatever  I  send  thein  without  fear  or  suspicion. 

"I  have  interested  myself  to  extend  the  knowledge  of  these  things  among 
the  lovers  of  mushrooms,  and  also  their  use  among  those  who  have  not  before 
tried  them.  In  the  latter  work  I  am  not  always  successful,  on  account  of  a 
strong  prejudice  against  vegetables  with  such  contemptuous  names,  and  an  un- 
conquerable fear  of  accidents.  Yet,  as  in  my  own  case,  curiosity  often  con- 
quern  these  errors.  When  away  from  home  I  have  frequently  obtained  ready 
permission  from  a  kind  hostess  to  have  cooked  a  dish  of  mushrooms  that  I  had 
found  on  her  premises.  It  has  rarely  occurred  in  such  cases  that  the  dish,  then 
tasted  for  the  first  time,  was  not  declared  to  be  dehcious,  or  the  best  thing  ever 
put  in  the  mouth.  This  latter  phrase  was  once  used  in  reference  to  so  indif- 
ferent an  article  as  A.  salignus.  Indeed.  I  have  found  several  persons  who 
class  this  among  the  most  palatable  species.  To  such  persons,  a  dish  of  fresh 
mushrooms  need  seldom  be  wanting,  as  this  one  can  be  had  every  month  of  the 
year  in  this  latitude.  I  am  induced  to  believe  that  the  quality  of  this  species 
varies  with  the  kind  of  wood  it  grows  from,  and  that  it  is  better  flavored  when 
gathered  from  the  mulberry,  and  especially  from  the  hickory,  than  when  taken 
from  most  other  trees.  Its  fitness  for  the  table  seems  also  to  depend  much 
upon  the  rapidity  of  its  growth  ;  those  which  grow  slowly,  as  is  the  case  with 
some  of  our  garden  vegetables,  being  of  tougher  texture  and  of  less  dehcate 
flavor.     A  warm  sun,  after  heavy  rains,  brings  them  out  in  greatest  perfection. 


24  JOURNAL   OF   THE 

"  I  have  several  times  been  asked  by  persons  eating  mushrooms  for  the  first 
time,  whether  these  things  belong  to  the  vegetable  or  animal  kingdom.  There  is 
certainly  a  veiy  noticeable  resemblance  in  the  flavor  of  some  of  them  to  that  of 
flesh,  fish,  or  mollusc,  so  that  the  question,  as  founded  merely  on  taste,  is  not  an 
unnatural  one.  But  I  was  much  struck  with  the  propriet  ywhen  reading  an  article 
in  "  Eraser's  Magazine  "  a  few  years  since,  written  by  the  late  Mr.  Broderip, 
who  therein  says  that  mushrooms  contain  osmazome.  If  this  be  so,  it  accounts 
both  for  their  flavor  and  for  their  value  as  food.  Of  this  latter  quality  I  had 
become  so  well  convinced  that,  during  our  late  war  I  sometimes  averred,  and  I 
doubt  if  there  was  much,  if  any,  exaggeration  in  the  assertion,  that  in  some 
parts  of  the  country  I  could  maintain  a  regiment  of  soldiers  five  months  of  the 
year  upon  mushrooms  alone. 

"  This  leads  to  a  remark  which  should  not  be  overlooked,  upon  the  great 
abundance  of  eatable  mushrooms  in  the  United  States.  I  think  it  is  Dr.  Bad- 
ham  who  boasts  of  their  unusual  number  in  Great  Britain,  staling  that  there  are 
30  edible  species  in  that  kingdom.  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  this  is  an  under 
estimate.  But  if  the  doctor  is  correct,  there  is  no  comparison  between  the 
number  in  your  country  and  this.  I  have  collected  and  eaten  40  species  found 
within  two  miles  of  my  house.  There  are  some  others  within  this  limit  which 
I  have  not  yet  eaten.  In  the  catalogue  of  the  plants  of  North  Carolina,  you 
will  notice  that  I  have  indicated  one  hundred  and  eleven  species  of  edible  fungi 
known  to  inhabit  this  State.  I  have  no  doubt  there  are  40* or  50  more,  as  the 
alpine  portion  of  the  State,  which  is  very  extensive  and  varied,  has  been  very 
little  explored  in  search  of  fungi. 

"  In  October,  1866,  while  on  the  Cumberland  mountains  in  Tennessee,  a 
plateau  less  than  1,000  feet  above  the  valleys  below,  although  with  little  leisure 
for  examination  during  the  two  days  spent  there,  I  counted  eighteen  species  of 
edible  fungi.  Of  the  four  or  five  species  which  I  collected  there  for  the  table, 
all  who  partook  of  them,  none  of  whom  had  before  eaten  mushrooms,  declared 
them  most  emphatically  delicious.  On  my  return  homeward,  while  stopping 
for  a  few  hours  at  a  station  in  Virginia,  I  gathered  eight  good  species  within  a 
few  hundred  yards  of  the  depot.  And  so  it  seems  to  be  throughout  the  country. 
Hill  and  plain,  mountain  and  valley,  woods,  fields,  and  pastures,  swarm  with  a 
profusion  of  good  nutritious  fungi,  which  are  allowed  to  decay  where  they  spring 
up,  because  people  do  not  know  how  or  are  afraid  to  use  them.  By  those  of 
us  who  know  their  use,  their  value  was  appreciated  as  never  before  during  our 
late  war,  when  other  food,  especially  meat,  was  scarce  and  dear.  Then  such 
persons  as  I  have  heard  express  a  preference  for  mushrooms  over  meat,  had 
generally  no  need  to  lack  grateful  food,  as  it  was  easily  had  for  the  gathering, 
and  within  easy  distance  of  their  homes,  if  living  in  the  country.  Such  was  not 
always  the  case,  however.  I  remember  on  one  occasion  during  the  gloomy 
period,  when  there  had  been  a  protracted  drought,  and  fleshy  fungi  were  to  be 
found  only  in  damp  shaded  woods,  and  but  few  were  there,  I  was  unable  to 
find  enough  of  any  one  species  for  a  meal  ;  so  gathering  of  every  kind,  I  brought 
home  13  different  kinds,  had  them  all  cooked  together  in  one  grdiud.  pot pourri. 


ELISHA    MITCHELL   SCIENTIFIC    SOCIETY.  2$ 

and  made  an  excellent  supper.  Among  these  was  the  Chaj^taielle,  upon  which 
I  would  say  a  few  words  in  confirmation  of  what  I  have  already  said  upon  the 
varying  qualities  of  mushrooms  in  different  regions  and  localities.  You  have 
somewhere  written  of  this  mushroom  as  being  so  highly  esteemed  a  delicacy, 
that  it  is  much  sought  for  when  a  dinner  of  state  is  given  in  London.  Can  this 
be  because  it  is  a  rarity  ?  (for  nothing  common  and  easily  obtained  is  deemed  a 
delicacy,  I  believe),  or  because  you  have  it  of  finer  flavor  in  England  ?  Here, 
where  it  abounds,  no  one  seems  to  care  at  all  for  it,  and  some  would  forego 
mushrooms  entirely  rather  than  eat  this.  It  certainly  varies  much  in  quality,  as  I 
have  occasionally  found  it  quite  palatable,  and  again,  though  cooked  in  the  same 
mode,  very  indifferent.  I  have  been  unable  to  ascertain  whether  this  difference 
is  due  to  locality,  exposure,  shade,  soil,  moisture,  or  temperature.  That  soil 
has  much  to  do  with  the  flavor  of  some  mushrooms  I  am  well  convinced.  In 
a  parcel  of  Pink  Gills  I  have  sometimes  found  one  or  two  specimens,  though 
perfectly  sound,  of  such  unpleasant  odor  and  taste  as  would  spoil  a  whole  dish. 
So  also  with  the  Snow  Ball,  (A.  arvensis),  of  which  I  annually  find  a  few 
beautiful  specimens  growing  near  my  residence,  upon  a  grassy  turf  which  covers 
a  pile  of  trash  made  up  of  decomposed  sticks,  leaves  and  scrapings  from  the 
adjoining  soil.  Their  taste  and  odor  are  perfectly  detestable.  I  had  one  speci- 
men cooked,  but  no  amount  of  seasoning  could  abate  the  offensiveness  of  the 
odious  thing  ;  yet  within  lOO  yards  of  these  I  gather  specimens  of  the  same 
identical  species,  which  are  of  fine  flavor,  equal  to  that  of  the  best  mushrooms. 
As  I  have  before  intimated,  the  varying  flavor  of  mushrooms  growing  on  differ- 
ent kinds  of  wood,  so  here  I  suppose  the  unpleasant  qualities  of  some  speci- 
mens of  these  two  well  known  and  favorite  species  may  be  owing  to  something 
in  the  soil  where  they  grow  which  they  cannot  assimilate,  and  so  render  a  pala- 
table and  wholesome  species  totally  unfit  for  the  table.  Whether  such  speci- 
mens, if  eaten,  would  be  poisonous  or  unwholesome.  I  do  not  feel  any  tempta- 
tion to  prove.  It  is  not  probable  that  they  will  ever  do  any  mischief,  for  it  is 
incredible  that  any  human  being  should  so  pervert  his  instincts  as  to  swallow 
such  a  villainous  concoction. 

"  Experience  and  observation  like  these  would  perhaps  justify  the  inference 
that  an  innocent  species  may  sometimes  be  deleterious,  on  account  of  its  taking 
up  some  bad  element  from  the  soil.  But  as  I  have  never  known  a  case  of 
poisoning  in  families  that  are  well  acquainted  with  the  common  mushroom  or 
Pink  Gill,  that  gather  the  specimens  for  themselves  and  have  used  this  article 
of  food  annually  for  many  generations  ,1  cannot  agree  with  an  objection  some- 
where made  by  you,  that  perhaps  all  mushrooms  contain  a  poisonous  element, 
but  some  of  them  in  such  small  quantity  as  to  have  no  appreciable  effect.  Now, 
had  you  seen  the  quantities  of  stewed  mushrooms  swallowed  at  a  single  meal 
which  I  have  seen  thus  devoured,  and  with  no  more  harm  than  from  the  same 
amount  of  oyster  or  turtle  soup,  I  think  you  would  be  forced  to  the  conclusion 
that  such  an  amount,  even  of  poisonous  infinitesimals,  must  have  had  some 
very  unpleasant  manifestations,  or  else  be  a  very  innocent  diet." 


26  JOURNAL   OF   TPIE 

It  would  seem  that  our  rigidly  scientific  botanist  did  not  disdain 
the  subtle  arts  of  the  gastronomist.  For  example,  in  this  letter  to- 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Berkeley,  from  which  I  have  already  made  a  lengthy 
extract,  ho  says.  '*  The  Lycoperdon  giganteum  is  also  a  great  favor- 
ite with  me,  as  indeed,  with  all  my  acquaintances  who  have  tried  it. 
It  has  not  the  high  aroma  of  some  other>,  but  it  has  a  delicacy  of 
flavor  that  makes  it  superior  to  any  omelette  I  have  ever  eaten.  It 
seems,  furthermore,  to  be  so  digestible  as  to  adapt  it  to  the  most 
delicate  stomachs.     This  is  t   e  Southdown  of  mushrooms." 

Could  gastronomic  enthusiam  run  higher  than  to  compare  a  devil's 
snuff  box,  that  the  school  boy  takes  particular  delight  in  using  as  a 
foot  ball  to  show  his  detestation,  to  the  luscious  meat  of  a  South- 
down mutton!  And  then  triuujphantly  he  adds,  in  this  latitude 
(about  36^)  we  can  find  good  mushrooms  for  the  table  nine  or  ten 
months  of  the  year,  and  some  even  the  year  round,  and  one  some- 
times emerging  from  the  soil  frozen  solid  1 

Dr.  Curtis'  neighbors  shared  largely  his  gastromic  pleasures.  It 
was  his  custom  to  send  baskets  of  the  choicest  of  them  to  his  friends, 
until  the  divine  art  of  mycophagy  reached  a  good  degree  of  cultiva- 
tion, and  many  of  them  learned  to  distinguish  for  themselves  the 
edible  ones.  Some  members  of  his  family  became'especially  expert 
in  foraging  for  the  table  among  the  mushrooms,  and  Mr.  Chas.  J. 
Curtis,  now  the  Rev.  Mr.  Curtis,  afterwards  put  his  knowledge  of  the 
forms  of  these  plants  to  use,  by  drawing  and  coloring  specimens  to 
illustrate  his  father's  still  unpublished  work  on  the  "  Edible  Fungi.'''' 
This  work  was  designed  to  popularize  the  use  of  mushrooms  as  an 
article  of  food.  It  was  written  during  the  late  war,  when  the  sub- 
ject of  food  was  a  matter  of  daily  solicitude  to  thousands  of  families. 
In  taking  up  the  pen  for  this  work.  Dr.  Curtis  succeeded  admirably 
in  divesting  himself  of  every  technicality,  and,  indeed,  of  describing 
minutely  about  40  of  t'se  111  species,  in  language  not  only  easy  to  be 
understood,  but  he  really  made  the  subject  very  enticing.  Illustrations 
and  comparisons  were  occasionally  drawn  from  the  numerous  for- 
eign authors  he  had  mastered.  When  the  war  ended  and  a  pub- 
lisher was  sought  for  the  work  on  "  Edible  Fungi,"  little  encourage- 
ment was  given.     It  now  remains  in  MS. 

The  subject  has  never  been  very  popular  in  the  United  States,  and 
the  students  who  underta.ke  its  study  are  not  numerous,  and  myco- 
phagists  do  not  abound  :  the  former  seek  for  information  in  works 
of  English  and  French  authorship,  and  the  latter  are  content  with 
the  authenticity  of  the  trade  mark  on  the  cans  of  Champignons, 
imported  from  France. 


ELISHA    MITCHELL  SCIENTIFIC    SOCIETY.  27 

In  1867,  the  State  published  as  a  part  of  the  Geological  and 
Natural  History  Survey,  ''A  Catalogue  of  the  Indigenous  and 
Naturalized  Plants  (of  the  State,")  by  Dr.  Curtis.  It  was  intended 
that  this  work  should  have  been  printed  with  '' Woody  Plants," 
but  the  outbreak  of  the  war  prevented  it.  At  the  time  of  its  issue, 
in  1867,  its  author  stated  that  it  was  the  most  extensive  local  list  of 
plants  ever  published  in  North  America,  comprising  over  4,800 
species.  It  was  the  first  attempt  to  enumerate  the  cryptogamous  as 
well  as  the  pheuogamous  plants  made  by  any  botanist  in  this 
country,  and  its  appearance  was  a  matter  of  much  scientific  con- 
gratulation. The  volume  consisted  of  158  pages  of  catalogue,  with 
no  scientific  description,  but  a  mere  statement  of  the  locality  of  each 
plant.  This  was  the  result  of  twenty-five  years  of  botanical  study, 
over  a  territory  of  50,000  square  miles.  Still  he  was  quite  confident 
in  the  assertion  that  few  flowering  plants  would  be  added  to  his  list, 
and  that  the  additions  which  would  reward  the  researches  of  future 
olfobservers  would  be  entirely  cryptogams. 

Tc  has  always  been  a  matter  of  regret  that  this  work  of  a  lifetime 
should  have  been  given  to  the  public  in  such  a  skeleton  form,  and 
produced  in  such  a  primitive  state  of  the  typographer's  and~  book- 
maker's art.  The  only  reward  to  the  man  of  science  was  the  con- 
sciousness of  his  thorough  work,  and  the  State  could  well  have 
afforded  to  have  made  an  ample  \olume  in  which  he  might  have 
recorded  the  rich  treasures  of  his  research  for  the  use  of  the  future 
student.  But  it  seems  that  Dr.  Curtis  was  very  many  years  in 
advance  of  his  time,  and  the  expectation  that  his  broad  foundation 
would  have  been  built  upon  by  his  early  successors  has  little  prospect 
of  f  ulflhnent. 

The  part  which  Dr.  Curtis  took  in  the  progress  of  American  Bot- 
any, was  always  recognized  as  important.  His  correspondence  was 
very  extensive,  and  his  herbarium  was  consulted  by  botanists  with 
great  satisfaction.  So  largely  did  Dr.  Chapman  feel  himself  in- 
debted to  Dr.  Curtis  for  aid,  that  he  dedicated  the  first  edition  of 
his  Flora  of  the  Southern  United  States  to  him,  and  the  two  bota- 
nists were  in  close  communication  until  the  death  of  Dr.  Curtis  in 
1872. 

"  All  our  associate's  work  was  marked  by  ability  and  conscientiousness. 
With  a  just  appreciation  both  of  the  needs  of  the  science  and  of  what  he  could 
best  do  under  the  circumstances,  when  he  had  exhausted  the  fields  in  Phfe- 
nogamous  Botany  within  his  reach,  he  entered  upon  the  inexhaustible  ground 
of  Mycology,  which  had  been  neglected  in  this  country  since  the  time  of 
Schweinitz.     In  this  difficult  department  he  investigated  and  published  a  large 


28  JOURNAL   OF   THE 

number  of  new  species,  as  well  as  determined  the  old  ones,  and  amassed  an 
ample  collection,  the  preservation  of  which  is  most  important,  comprising,  as  it 
does,  the  specimens,  drawings  and  original  notes  which  are  to  authenticate  his 
work.  By  his  unremitting  and  well  directed  labors,  filling  the  intervals  of  an 
honored  and  faithful  professional  life,  he  has  richly  earned  the  gratitude  of  the 
present  and  ensuing  generations  of  botanists." 

(Am.  Jour,  of  Science.      Third  series.  Vol.  V.  No.  29,  May,    1873.) 

During  Dr.  Curtis'  lifetime  very  little  attention  had  been  paid  to 
the  life-history  of  fungi  by  the  medical  profession.  The  theory  of 
contagium  vivum  was  barely  foreshadowed  by  J.  li.  Mitchell,  and 
afterwards  by  Salisbury,  but  so  crude  was  the  botany  of  even  these 
writers,  that  they  made  but  little  impression  upon  the  medical  pro- 
fession, and  only  excited  the  mild  derision  of  the  real  botanists.  I 
well  remember  upon  one  occasion  when  a  group  of  doctors  had 
accidentally  met  at  the  office  of  a  brother  physician,  and  were  ad- 
miring the  beautiful  microscopic  appearance  of  several  fungi,  espe- 
cially the  Oidiufn  albicans,  as  figured  in  the  book  of  the  season — 
Beale  on  the  "'Microscope  in  Practical  Medicine^  This  fungus  ]5-/ 
was  supposed  to  stand  in  relation  of  a  causative  agent  in  muguet  or 
thrush.  Dr.  Curtis  came  up  in  the  midst  of  our  discussion  of  the 
subject,  and  at  once  recognized  a  very  familiar  fundus  and  made  it 
very  clear  to  us  that  fungus  spores  only  found  lodgment  when  the 
soil  was  prepared  to  receive  it,  and  that  we  must  beware  of  a  two  Of 
hasty  conclusion  of  the  disease-carrying  properties  of  the  fungi. 
Oidium  was  found  in  the  mouth  of  the  baby  with  thrush  because 
there  was  a  condition  precedent  which  favored  its  lodgment,  and  so 
far  from  being  the  cause  of  the  disease,  it  was  the  result  of  the  dis- 
ease. His  familiarity  with  the  forms,  which  to  doctors  who  had 
been  four  years  cut  off  from  medical  literature,  was  truly  wonderful, 
but  was  a  pretty  clear  statement  of  the  general  principles  which 
to-day  are  held  by  some  of  the  best  thinkers  in  the  medical  profes- 
sion. 

I  have  spoken  of  Dr.  Curtis'  splendid  achievements,  his  scientific 
precision,  his  ardor  in  the  pursuit  of  natural  history,  his  completion 
of  a  botanical  survey  almost  to  the  remotest  domain  of  the  lowest 
microscopic  plant,  but  I  would  not  have  you  believe  that  this  was 
the  sum  of  his  life  work.  Botanical  science  was  his  pastime  and 
recreation.  In  the  mission  he  had  chosen  as  a  servant  of  Christ, 
he  was  no  sluggard.  He  was  a  pioneer  missionary  in  the  rugged 
hills  of  North  Carolina,  when  to  be  a  pioneer  was  to  suffer  hardship 
and  privation.  Love  and  sympathy  beamed  from  his  benignant 
face,  and  wherever  he  went  his  Master's  mission  of  "Peace  on  earth 


ELISHA    MITCHELL   SCIENTIFIC    SOCIETY.  29 

and  good  will  towards  men,"  was  made  actual  by  the  tenor  of  his 
own  life. 

An  intimate  friend,  Rev.  Dr.  F.  M.  Hubbard,  who  knew  him  well 
as  a  collegian,  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  as  a  scientific  botanist, 
thus  speaks  of  him  : 

The  Diocese  of  North  Carolina  has  suffered  a  great  loss,  and  the  church  at 
large  hardly  less,  in  the  recent  death  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Curtis,  and  his  many  ex- 
cellences deserve  a  larger  notice  than  the  customary  announcement  that  one 
much  loved  has  been  called  to  his  reward.  His  health  had  been  rather  feeble 
for  seven^l  years,  but  the  end  came  very  suddenly,  and  was  a  sad  blow  to  all 
who  knew  him.  The  Rev.  Moses  Ashley  Curtis  was  a  native  of  Stockbridge, 
Mass.,  and  graduated  at  Williams  College,  in  that  State,  in  the  class  of  1827. 
Some  three  or  four  years  after  leaving  college  he  removed  to  Wilmington,  North 
Carolina,  where  he  was  married,  and  in  that  State  the  most  of  his  later  life  was 
spent.  He  was  ordained  by  Bishop/Ives)  and  after  a  brief  tour  of  missionary 
duty,  took  charge  of  St.  Matthew's  Church,  Hillsboro.  To  this  parish,  except- 
ing that  he  was  for  a  few  years  the  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Society  Hill,  S. 
C.  the  active,  clerical  service  of  his  life  was  given.  Here,  by  the  great  strength, 
as  well  as  the  sweetness  of  his  character,  his  unwearied  labors,  his  quick  and 
tender  sympathies,  his  high  attainments  in  learning,  and  warm  and  steadfast 
affections,  he  won  from  his  people,  and,  indeed,  from  all  who  knew  him,  a  love 
and  reverence  that  were  hardly  less  than  devotion.  Few  men  are  more  earnestly 
loved  while  they  live,  or,  when  they  are  called  to  die,  are  more  sincerely 
mourned. 

By  his  brethren  of  the  clergy  he  was  no  less  valued.  Indeed,  it  is  no  dis- 
paragement of  the  many  excellent  men  of  that  order  in  that  diocese  to  say  that 
no  one  among  them  was  more  esteemed  and  revered  by  them  than  was  Dr. 
Curtis.  He  was  a  well  read  and  skillful  theologian,  a  good  classical  scholar, 
and  not  unfamiliar  with  modern  languages.  His  degree  of  Doctor  in  Theology 
was  given  by  the  University  of  North  Carolina.  His  duties  as  the  rector  of  a 
parish,  of  course,  occupied  him  chiefly  ;  but  ?is  his  tastes,  developed  in  very 
early  life,  led  him  to  give  much  of  his  leisure  to  the  study  of  natural  history. 
In  all  the  departments  that  are  included  under  this  name,  ne  was  singularly 
well  informed.  Botany  was,  however,  his  favorite  field,  and  in  it  he  gained  a 
very  enviable  reputation.  He  had  thoroughly — none  so  much  so — explored  the 
plants  of  North  Carolina  from  the  sea  to  the  mountains,  and  the  monographs 
he  published  are  very  accurate  and  of  great  value.  His  correspondence  on  this 
subject,  both  at  home  and  in  Europe,  was  very  extensive,  and  no  man  in  the 
Southern  States  had  a  higher  or  wider  reputation.  For  many  years  his  investi- 
gations were  mainly  microscopic,  and  in  cryptogamic  botany  he  was  in  that 
region  without  a  peer.  The  standard  work  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Berkely  on  English 
mycology  owed  much  to  his  minute  and  careful  researches,  and  was  at  first  pub- 
lished under  their  joined  names.  In  the  survey  of  the  State,  ordered  by  the 
Legislature,  the  department  of  natural  history  was  entrusted  to  him,  and  his 


30  JOURNAL   OF   THE 

report  on  the  woody  shrubs,  etc.,  was  of  great  and  popular  value.  He  had  also 
ready  for  the  press  a  treatise  on  edible  mushrooms,  which  would  be  of  much  use 
to  the  people  of  this  country,  should  it  see  the  light. 

These  were  his  amusements,  and  such  is  an  imperfect  statement  of  the  results. 
Yet  they  never  diverted  his  thoughts  or  labors  from  the  cure  of  souls,  in  which 
he  delighted,  or  from  his  Master's  cause,  for  which  he  lived.  Besides  the  care 
of  his  own  parish,  he  served  for  many  years  as  a  member  of  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee of  the  Diocese  of  North  Carolina.  He  was  sent  as  a  deputy  to  the 
General  Convention  and  to  the  Southern  Councils  as  often  as  he  could  be  m- 
duced  to  accept  the  trust,  and  was  the  clerical  trustee  from  North  Carolina  of 
the  "  University  of  the  South,"  from  its  inception  through  his  life,  and  ren- 
dered to  its  interests  wise  and  faithful  service. 

To  his  family  and  parish,  to  which  he  was  so  dear,  and  to  his  diocese  and 
brethren  that  so  highly  regarded  his  noble  qualities  and  eminent  usefulness,  the 
departure  of  such  a  man  is  a  mosc  sad  loss.  One  who  had  been  in  intimate 
relatioivs  with  him  for  well  nigh  half  a  century  may  close  this  scanty  sketch  by 
saying  that  in  all  that  time  he  has  met  no  man  to  whom  he  gave  a  heartier 
es*:eem,  or  a  more  sincere  affection  ;  no  man  more  true  in  word  and  deed,  more 
steadfast  in  friendship,  of  a  more  beautiful  simplicity,  of  a  more  sterling  worth, 
of  a  more  humble  temper  of  devotion. 

Science  did  not  mislead  him  into  the  paths  of  skepticism ;  for 
him 

"  The  earth  was  crammed  with  heaven. 
And  every  common  bush  afire  with  God." 

God's  wondrous  worlis  were  visible  to  him  in  every  plant  he  saw, 
and  all  his  converse  with  nature  only  drew  him  nearer  to  that  divine 
life  to\7ards  which  it  was  his  mission  to  lead  his  fellow  men. 

To  our  young  men  we  point  to  his  life  as  an  example  of  the  im- 
mense advantage  of  patient  training,  and  of  the  renown  it  is  possible 
to  achieve  by  quiet,  unobtrusive  worii,  even  in  the  stillness  of  the 
forest.  Also  to  our  young  men,  and  to  all  men,  we  will  say,  his  life 
was  the  proof  that  profound  scientific  study  is  not  only  not  incom- 
patible with  profound  faith  in  revealed  religion,  but  is  the  safest 
path  through  which  to  attain  it.  - 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

"Enumeration  of  Plants  growing  Spontaneously  around  Wil- 
mington, North  Carolina,"  with  remarks  on  some  new  and  obscure 
species,  by  Moses  A.  Curtis,  A.  M.,  vol.  1,  No.  2,  Boston  Journal  of 
Natural   History,    Communication   Sept.    3d.    1834.     Reprint  with 


ELTSHA   MITCHELL   SCIENTIFIC    SOCIETY.  3 1 

many  additions   and  emendations,  the  result  of  further  research. 
Reprint  with  MS.  additions  and  index,  by  Dr.  James  F.  McRee. 

"New  and  rare  Plants  of  North  Carolina,''  dated  Hillsboro,  N. 
C,  Nov.  1,  1842.     (Silliman's  Journal,  vol.  14,  p.  80,  Art.  XI.) 

"  Contributions  to  Mycology  of  North  America,"  by  M.  A.  Curtis. 
(Sill.  Jour.,  vol  6,  2d  series,  p.  349,  Art.  33,  1848.) 

"  New  and  rare  Plants,  chiefly  of  the  Carolinas."  (Sill.  Jour., 
vol.  7,  p.  406,  1849.) 

"Contributions  to  Mycology  of  North  America,"  by  Rev.  M.  J. 
Berkeley,  of  England,  and  Rev.  M.  A.  Curtis,  of  South  Carolina.  (Sill. 
Jour.,  vol.  8,  2d  series,  p.  401,  1849.) 

"  New  Fungi  collected  by  the  Wilkes  Exploring  Expedition,"  by 
M.  A.  Curtis.     (Sill.  Jour.,  vol.  XI,  p.  95,  1851.) 

"  Contributions  to  Mycology  of  North  America,"  by  Rev.  M.  J. 
Berkeley,  of  England,  and  Rev.  M.  A.  Curtis,  of  South  Carolina. 
(Sill.  Jour.,  2d  series,  vol.  9,  p.  171,  1859,  and  voL  10,  p.  185.) 

"Geological  and  Natural  History  Survey  of  North  Carolina," 
part  III,  Botany.  Containing  a  catalogue  of  the  plants  of  the  State, 
with  description  and  history  of  the  trees,  shrubs  and  woody  vines, 
by  M.  A.  Curtis,  Raleigh,  1860. 

"  A  Commentary  on  the  Natural  History  of  Dr.  Hawks'  History 
of  North  Carolina,"  by  Rev.   Dr.  Curtis,  of  Hillsboro,  March,  1860. 

"Esculent  Fungi,"  by  Rev.  M.  A.  Curtis,  in  manuscript,  gwith 
colored  illustrations.     (Sill.  Jour.,  3d  series,  vol.  42,  p.  129,  1866.) 

"  Geological  and  Natural  History  of  North  Carolina,  part  III. 
Indig.  and  Naturalized  Plants  of  North  Carolina.  Raleigh,  1867, 
pp.  155. 

"Edible  Fungi  in  North  Carolina."  Rev.  Moses  A.  Curtis,  D.  D., 
Gardner's  Chronicle,  London,  October  9th,  1869. 


